The story of this book
It started with a gift
In 2025 I told a family member about my idea: a short, practical guide for any American who wants to be president. They didn’t say much. A few days later they gave me a copy of Timothy Snyder’s amazing book On Tyranny.
I think they were trying to talk me out of it. But Snyder’s twenty lessons tell ordinary people exactly what to protect. Read them the other way up and they tell you exactly where to push. The book I’d been trying to write was already there. It just needed turning around.
The students at Ohio State
In 1989 Michael Lewis wrote Liar’s Poker, about his time on Wall Street. He meant it as a warning. Within months, he later said, students at Ohio State were writing to him to ask if he had any more secrets. They’d read it as a how-to manual.
Lewis seems to have been disappointed. I think those students had the right idea. Some books tell you what not to do. The useful ones tell you how. So I’ve saved you the trouble of reading On Tyranny upside down. This book does it for you.
Why it’s so short
Because getting things done matters more than thinking about them. The introduction explains this, briefly.
Why there are no names
Apart from Snyder, nobody in this book is named. You don’t need names. Plenty of people have done all of these things. Some have just done more of them than others.
Why nothing is made up
Every step and every perk in this book has been tried by real people in the last few years. I didn’t have to invent anything. That’s what makes it a guide and not a fantasy: it all works.
Why the perks come first
People want to know what a job pays before they apply. So the perks are at the front, and the hard work comes after. It’s the same order the job itself works in.
Why now
The book says politics is about doing, and doing it right now. So I wrote it in a hurry and got it out in 2026, while all twenty steps are still fresh.
Write to me
If you’ve got questions, or you’d like more secrets, write to me at [email protected]. The students at Ohio State would have.